We're still waiting for the 'Bune to own up to Wednesday's "Ugly American" editorial.

In the Sunday Tribune, columns by managing editor Chris Morris (in the editorial slot) and city editor Amany Ali both contemplate the unprecedented destruction and societal chaos in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The columns, which aren't archived on-line, are refreshingly thoughtful and sincere, expressing complex and introspective emotions while revealing heartfelt personal searches for perspective in troubling times.

I congratulate both writers for jobs well done.

And yet … the ‘Bune still has not explained last Wednesday’s breathtakingly awful editorial on the same topic.

Tribune's "ugly American" editorial Wednesday ignores Gulf Coast suffering in favor of cheap theatrics.

NAC wrote:

As the appalling human tragedy on the Gulf Coast unfolds, the Tribune’s official editorial position can reach no higher than to ask how much it will cost to rebuild New Orleans, and to petulantly demand that because the United States is “always first on the scene with money and goods,” that the rest of the world should come to our aid.

Wire service stories today noted that the United States has decided to accept United Nations aid, and Britain’s inimitable Guardian put it this way:

And in belated recognition of the depth of the crisis, Washington swallowed its pride and asked for blankets, food and water trucks from the EU and Nato, and beds and medical supplies from Canada.

America has yet to indicate whether it will allow Cuba and Venezuela to contribute to the effort.

Both have offered.

Presumably the Tribune’s far too hasty editorialist still holds his or her breath, chauvinistically waiting for the world to respond to the tragedy, when all along the real issue has not been whether such aid would be forthcoming – but whether we would accept it.

The Tribune’s Wednesday editorial remains petty, shortsighted and just plain wrong.

Would anyone there like to take debit for it?